Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium cultivar Matisse.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Chrysanthemum plant, botanically known as Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium, commercially known as a garden-type Chrysanthemum and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Matissexe2x80x99.
The new cultivar is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Fareham, United Kingdom. The objective of the breeding program is to create new garden-type Chrysanthemum cultivars having inflorescences with desirable inflorescence forms, attractive floret colors and good garden performance.
The new Chrysanthemum originated from a cross made in March, 1997, in Fareham, United Kingdom, of a proprietary seedling selection of Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium identified as code number 03W 4, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with the Chrysanthemumxc3x97morifolium cultivar Empire Citrine, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,094, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Chrysanthemum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross grown in a controlled environment in Fareham, United Kingdom in September, 1997. The selection of this plant was based on its desirable inflorescence form, attractive ray floret color and good garden performance.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Fareham, United Kingdom since December, 1997, has shown that the unique features of this new Chrysanthemum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Matisse has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Matissexe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Matissexe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright, outwardly spreading and mounded plant habit.
2. Freely branching habit; dense and full plants.
3. Uniform and freely flowering habit.
4. Anemone-type inflorescences with quilled ray florets.
5. Light purple-colored ray and disc florets.
6. Natural season flowering in mid-October in the Northern Hemisphere.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Fareham, United Kingdom, plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the female parent seedling selection, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum had a more uniform plant growth habit than plants of the female parent seedling selection.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered more slowly than plants of the female parent seedling selection.
3. Ray florets of inflorescences of plants of the new Chrysanthemum were lighter purple in color than ray florets of inflorescences of plants of the female parent seedling selection.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Fareham, United Kingdom, plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the male parent, the cultivar Empire Citrine, in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum were more compact than plants of the cultivar Empire Citrine.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered more slowly than plants of the cultivar Empire Citrine.
3. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum had anemone-type inflorescences whereas plants of the cultivar Empire Citrine had daisy-type inflorescences.
4. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum and the cultivar Empire Citrine differed in ray floret coloration as plants of the cultivar Empire Citrine had yellow-colored ray florets.
Plants of the new Chrysanthemum can also be compared to plants of the Chrysanthemum cultivar Yomary-Jayne, disclosed in U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 10/094,267. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Alva, Fla., plants of the new Chrysanthemum differed from plants of the cultivar Yomary-Jayne in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum were larger and more rounded than plants of the cultivar Yomary-Jayne.
2. Plants of the new Chrysanthemum flowered about two weeks later than plants of the cultivar Yomary-Jayne.